TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Latest on the Kansas Supreme Court’s continued review of the capital murder cases of two brothers sentenced to die for what became known as “the Wichita massacre” (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
The Kansas Supreme Court is struggling with how much discretion it has to spare two brothers from execution for four notorious Wichita slayings following a U.S. Supreme Court decision against them.
The Kansas court heard arguments Thursday in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr. They were convicted of dozens of crimes against five people in December 2000 that ended with the victims being shot in a field. One woman survived.
The Kansas court previously overturned their death sentences in 2014 in part because it believed it was unfair to have them tried and sentenced together rather than separately. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the U.S. Constitution didn’t require separate proceedings.
Attorneys for the men argued that the Kansas Constitution requires separate sentencing hearings.
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12:30 a.m.
The Kansas Supreme Court is considering for a second time whether to spare two brothers from being executed for four slayings in what became known as “the Wichita massacre.”
The justices were hearing arguments from attorneys Thursday in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr.
They were convicted of dozens of crimes against five people in December 2000 that ended with the victims being shot in a field. One woman survived.
The crimes were among the most notorious in the state since the 1959 slayings of a western Kansas family that inspired the book “In Cold Blood.”
The Kansas court overturned the death sentences in July 2014 and cited flaws in their joint trial and sentencing hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Kansas court’s rulings and forced another review.
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